Are you still using an old, Standard PanelView, and hesitant
to upgrade because you don’t want to lose your projects or start over from
scratch? Migrating doesn’t have to be a daunting task. In this short tutorial,
I walk through the steps of converting a project from a Standard PanelView to a
PanelView Plus using FactoryTalk View Machine Edition. This process allows you
to get your project operating on the new PanelView Plus without any initial
rework, and to have the same performance, or better, as the original project.

A few things to take into consideration before starting this type of migration:

To be able to start the migration, you will need
a copy of your PanelView Standard program.
This can be done by exporting your project from the original
PanelBuilder32 software or using a copy you already have stored offline. The
PanelBuilder software is discontinued and no longer available for sale, so if
you no longer have this software and need help exporting your project,
contact me or a Rumsey specialist for assistance.

Before you begin you should be very familiar
with the original project. Does it have any bugs? What is the current process? Give
it a good review/run through before starting.
This will save you from wasting time trying to correct any problems in
the new product.

While easy, this is not something I would
recommend for a beginner or novice. You want to be fairly well versed in
FactoryTalk View ME to be able to remap the tags and change the graphics.

Depending on what communications your old
Panelview has, you may need/want an Ethernet gateway if you aren’t migrating
the controller as well. We have lots of
options depending on the prior communications (RIO, DH+, RS232, etc.). A few
considerations there but typically pretty simple, again contact
us and we’ll provide you some choices.

Last but not least – if you don’t have the time or energy to do this, the Rockwell Automation Field Service team offers a turnkey service to do it for you. All we need is a copy of the program and we’ll get you a quote for an updated, drop in replacement.

Mace Bittman is an Automation Specialist on the Rumsey team. Mace has been in the Automation and Control industry for over 15 years. Prior to his current position, Mace worked at another Rockwell Automation Distributor in New England for 10 years and before that, Mace worked at an OEM for wastewater evaporator systems. Over time, he converted systems from older Relay Logic to PLC's trying several manufactures resulting in standardizing in Allen Bradley PLC's and HMI's for automating all of their systems shipping today.